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Tag: UPU

  • Okporoko hails UPU for withdrawing letter against Tantita

    Okporoko hails UPU for withdrawing letter against Tantita

    Executive Assistant Security Matters To Delta Governor Amb Chief Godwin Okporoko, has commended the President General of Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) Olorogun Ese Gam Owe Esq, for withdrawing the letter published against Tantita Security Services Limited.

    The UPU’s withdrawal letter dated July 7, 2025 was published in Vanguard Newspaper of Tuesday 8th July, 2025, on page 38.

    Okporoko, also the President General, Owahwa Sub-Clan, OML34, Ughievwen Kingdom, Ughelli South LGA, Delta State, on Tuesday, appreciated Owe Esq, for showing understanding and the decision to withdraw the letter after consulting with stakeholders and properly briefed.

    Read Also: Tantita, UPU faceoff: Ex-agitator calls for calm

    “ We knew that our respected President General of UPU, Olorogun Ese Gam Owe Esq, was mislead by some persons for their greed and selfish interest. We are happy that the President General of UPU has seen the truth that Tantita is doing very well in Urhobo host communities,” he stated.

    He noted that evidence has shown that Tantita Security Services Limited employed about 4,000 Urhobo youths in Urhobo pipeline host communities happily earning their salary monthly.

    Okporoko commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited NNPCL, for awarding the pipeline surveillance contract in Urhobo area to Tantita Security Services.

    He assured that Urhobo leaders would continue to partner and support Tantita, adding that the brotherly relationship between Urhobo and Ijaw remains cordial and intact.

  • UPU greets Okowa, Urhobo lawmakers

    The Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) has congratulated Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on his re-election.

    A statement by the President-General, Olorogun Moses Taiga, urged Okowa to use his second term to bring more developments to Urhobo land, in particular, and Delta in general.

    The union also greeted the lawmakers-elect from Delta Central, urging them to always promote Urhobo interest and work towards the development of Urhoboland.

    Read also: Comedian I Go Dye congratulates Okowa

    The statement reads: “The Urhobo Nation is expecting more development projects from the government in the next four years.

    “To those who feel their mandates were stolen, the Nigerian electoral system is not perfect and you have every right to go to court if you feel aggrieved. But every action you take should be legal. No more violence, we have lost too many people already.”

  • UPU greets Buhari, Omo-Agege on victory

    The Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU) has congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari on his re-election.

    A statement by UPU’s President-General, Olorogun Moses Taiga, prayed that Buhari’s second term will bring a fresh breath of air to Nigerians. He urged the President to work towards uniting Nigeria which was “fragmented by the election”.

    He reminded President Buhari that he is yet to fulfill the promises he made when UPU and Urhobo monarchs visited him in 2018.

    Buhari had promised to look into complaints of the military selling land given to it by Urhobo Communities in Uvwie and Okpe for private use.

    Taiga had requested that the unused lands be returned to the host communities.

    Olorogun Taiga also requested for increased funding for the Federal University of Petroleum, among other demands, during the 2018 visit to the president.

    The union congratulated Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (who represents the Urhobo nation); Francis Waive, member-elect for Udu, Ughelli North and Ughelli South Federal Constituency; Efe Afe, member-elect for Sapele, Okpe, Uvwie Federal Constituency, and Ben Ibakpa, member-elect, Ethiope Federal Constituency, on their election.

    It urged them to use their positions to bring more developments to Urhobo land. According to him, UPU looks forward to a formidable partnership with them to quicken development of Urhoboland.

  • UPU endorse Buhari, Ogboru, Omo-Agege

    The Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU) has endorsed President Muhammedu Buhari, Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru and Sen Ovie Omo-Agege as candidates for the Urhobo nation.

    A statement by the President-General, Chief Joe Omene, and National Secretary Martins Umukoro, including the youth, women and men wings, said the union endorsed Buhari for having picked an Urhobo son as governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

    Omene, who addressed union members, said Urhobo will not and cannot vote or support anybody and party that plans to sell the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) or any other public property.

    He said: “We reject the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Atiku Abubakar because he vowed to sell NNPC, same attitude he exhibited when they bought DSC and NEPA when he was Vice President to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    “Ogboru is the only candidate that is best recognised and accepted by all Deltans. Governor Ifeanyi Okowa is the worse governor Delta State has ever had since its creation.

    “Ogboru has been winning election but has always been rigged out because of the PDP powers at the federal level, but thank God that power is no longer there.”

    Omene added that the Urhobo nation could not continue to have one tenure senator in the House of Asembly, hence they endorsed Senator Ovie Omo-Agege for a second term because he has performed well and needs to go back as a principal officer in 2019.

     

  • Buhari to punish military officers selling Urhobo lands

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday said the military officers selling the lands donated to the military in Delta State would be dealt with.

    He made the declaration while receiving the Urhobo Traditional Rulers, Leadership of Urhobo Progress Union (UPUp) and Urhobo members in the All Progressives Congress (APC), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja

    Buhari said his government would not forget Urhobo nation in its developmental agenda.

    He also pleaded with the Urhobo nation to protect oil installations in their communities the way they protected it during the 16 years administration of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    But he told the group that the request for Urhobo person to be in his cabinet may not be possible as the Constitution has specified that there will be one person from every state of the federation without mentioning a particular community the person should come from.

    The Urhobo nation in its address read by the President General of UPU, Olorogun Moses Taiga told the President to ensure the restructuring of the country.

    Taiga said the serious hunger and poverty in the country required immediate solution.

    The group also demanded that President Buhari should appoint an Urhobo indigene in his cabinet, adding that Urhobo is the biggest ethnic group in Delta State and the fifth biggest ethnic group in the country.

  • Ogbe-Ijoh elders, monarch to UPU: call Aladja to order

    The Governing Council of Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Clan in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State has urged the Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU) as well as Urhobo monarchs to resolve the recent crisis between Ijaw communities and Aladja in Udu Local Government Area.

    In a statement yesterday by its chairman, Alex Akemetubo, the governing council alluded to recent reports tagging Isaba as a sub-community in Ogbe-Ijoh Clan and Ayama as sub-community in Aladja community.

    The statement said: “The Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Clan Governing Council has just read the report in The Nation of Friday, November 11, where the paper reported an alleged clash between youths of Isaba, which they referred to as a sub-community in Ogbe-Ijoh Clan and Ayama, a sub-community in Aladja community. The impression created by the report was that the inter-communal clash between Ogbe-Ijoh and Aladja led to the crisis and the loss of life.

    “In order to set the records straight, we wish to state as follows: Isaba is not a community under Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom. Isaba is a separate and distinct Ijaw Kingdom in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State with a gazzetted and recognised traditional ruler, the Pere of Isaba Kingdom, Pere Donokoromor.

    “Ayama, as the name implies, is a community under Isaba Kingdom and not Aladja Community.

    The Isaba and Aladja people have also had historical land disputes. The disputes have been in court for decades and Isaba people won the case at the High Court and Court of Appeal; now, the matter is at the Supreme Court.

    “The impression being created by Aladja people that Isaba is a sub-community in Ogbe-Ijoh is a deliberate attempt to seek sympathy from other Urhobo to set the machineries for an inter-ethnic clash between the Ijaw and the Urhobo. Aladja indigenes have been looking for an opportunity to extend the land dispute between Ogbe-Ijoh and Aladja to a crisis between Ijaw and Urhobo.”

    It urged UPU and Urhobo Traditional Rulers to call Aladja residents to order, adding that there was need for ethnic nationalities to work together to develop the state.

    The statement added: “We call on the leadership of the Urhobo nation, especially the UPU and the Urhobo Traditional Rulers, led by the Orodje of Okpe, to call Aladja people to order. What is required in Delta State and all over Niger Delta is for the different ethnic groups to work together towards the development of the communities, states and the region.”

  • Ibru: Union declares 3 days of mourning

    Ibru: Union declares 3 days of mourning

    The Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU) has declared a three-day of mourning in honour of the late Chief Felix Ibru, the first governor of Delta.

    This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Josiah Ntekume, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of UPU (interim committee), and made available to newsmen in Warri on Monday.

    The statement quoted Mr Gabriel Ofotokun, UPU`s President-General (Interim committee), as saying that the mourning takes immediate effect.

    It also directed the union’s flag to be flown at half mast at home and in the Diaspora.

    “The president-general of the UPU’s interim committee has declared three-day mourning in honour of the departed Olorogun Felix Ibru throughout the Urhobo nation beginning from today, Monday.

    “He has also directed that UPU’s flag must fly at half mast both at home and in the Diaspora, “ he said.

    Ofotokun commiserated with the Ibru family, the Urhobo nation and the entire people of Delta and prayed God to give them the strength to bear the loss.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the former governor and a one-time senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, was reported to have died on March 12, after a brief illness.

    The 80-year-old business magnate was a one-time president-general of UPU, the “Urhobo umbrella body“.

    The deceased was born on Dec. 7, 1935 to the family of late Chief Peter Ibru in Agbarha-Otor, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta.

  • Emerhor, UPU congratulates Buhari/Osinbajo

    Emerhor, UPU congratulates Buhari/Osinbajo

    THEAll Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Delta State, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, has hailed the president-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and the vice president-elect Prof. Yemi Osibanjo for their victory.

    A statement by his Director of Media & Political Communication, Dr. Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe, described Buhari/Osibanjo’s victory as a divine democratic phenomena crafted by God to bring a positive change to the nation.

    He enjoined Nigerians to join the APC and its leaders  to collectively benefit from the dividends of democracy.

    Similarly, Acting President-General of the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU), Chief Tuesday Onoge described Gen. Buhari/Osibanjo’s victory as timely and well-deserved, adding that Urhobo, with over one million votes, cannot be in opposition in the present arrangement.

    Onoge called on Deltans to vote for Emerhor as governor.

  • UPU: ‘we won’t fight Omene’

    The President-General of the new Urhobo Progress Union (UPU), Chief Tuesday Onoge, has said his faction of the group will no longer join issues with his predecessor, Chief Joe Omene, in the media.

    Onoge spoke at the weekend when he hosted the youth wing of the UPU, led by Freeborn Mukoro, at his Ekpan home, in Uvwie Local Government Area.

    The UPU chief explained that Omene was removed because he allegedly misled the Urhobo.

  • Kokori urges UPU to support APC

    The Urhobo Leaders Integrity Group has urged the leadership of the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) to support the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC)in Delta State, Olorogun Ortega Emerhor.

    Its co-ordinator and former Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG), Chief Frank Ovie Kokori, in a statement at an enlarged meeting of the group, said the Uvwiamuge Declaration was between two major political parties, APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP.

    The group met at Oviorie-Ovu, Ethiope East local government Area.

    The group said: “We can see that the Urhobo nation is at a crossroads and any faulty move now will perpetually put our people in jeopardy. The last eight years of the Uduaghan government had been particularly harrowing for the Urhobo nation, and between the six years of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Urhobo has had much humiliation and uncaring contempt.

    “Our worries today are the different signals of double languages we are receiving from our great UPU against the Uvwiamuge Declaration to either support any of the major political parties between All Progressive Congress or the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and not Labour Party as it is being rumoured.

    “UPU, which is 83 years old, cannot be left solely to the whims and caprices of leaders who will speak in tongues whenever it suits them. We say no, as the Urhobo nation today has two illustrious sons as governorship candidates, Chief O’tega Emerhor of APC, a major political party and a sole beneficiary of the Uvwiamuge Declaration and Chief Great Ogboru of Labour Party, a mushroom party and a repository of failed aspirants of the PDP.”